<p>My friend and I got into this little debate about university admissions. He basically told me that Columbia University (my dream school) was the "easiest" Ivy to get into.
I disagreed and stated that all ivy leagues had more or less the same high standards.</p>
<p>You opinion?</p>
<p>Um...your friend lied. Columbia College had the lowest admit rate of any Ivy League this year (8.9%). With a regular admissions admit rate of about 6%.</p>
<p>None of the Ivies are 'easy' to get into.</p>
<p>"My friend and I got into this little debate about university admissions."</p>
<p>-If you're debating with your friend about university admissions - and you're not on CC - then you should go outside and get some fresh air. :)</p>
<p>"He basically told me that Columbia University (my dream school) was the "easiest" Ivy to get into."</p>
<p>-Well, he's just making things up. </p>
<p>"I disagreed and stated that all ivy leagues had more or less the same high standards."</p>
<p>-I'd say yes, yes they do. There is no "automatic" way to be admitted to any of the schools, and as such, it's quite ludicrous to say that some schools are easier to get into than others; it really does depend on the person and the program.</p>
<p>"Um...your friend lied. Columbia College had the lowest admit rate of any Ivy League this year (8.9%). With a regular admissions admit rate of about 6%."</p>
<p>So? Suppose 85% of the applicants weren't qualified to be in the school in the first place...... Admissions rates mean very little, and really don't say much about how difficult it is to get into a school.</p>
<p>Admissions rates certainly don't tell the whole story, but I think the statement that Columbia is the easiest ivy is pretty ludicrous.
I agree with the OP that all ivies are extremely difficult, but I would also say that most people, even if they did attempt to rank ivy selectivity (whether this is a good idea or not), would put columbia near the top.</p>
<p>" If you're debating with your friend about university admissions - and you're not on CC - then you should go outside and get some fresh air. "</p>
<p>haha, we were having coffee. And I think that between talks of the new family guy season and the selling of his car, college talk can be very enlightening. ;)</p>
<p>And thank you for the comments. Basically confirmed what I thought. He was questioning why I'd apply to Columbia and not Harvard when it came up. sigh.</p>
<p>The easiest Ivy to get into is generally accepted as Cornell.</p>
<p>^^ why do you guys think that is? Just curious.</p>
<p>cornell, although it doesnt mean its easy to get into</p>
<p>Cornell is the easiest to get into for whom? How do you even know this? Are you saying that a person who could get into one of the other seven schools could ALWAYS also get into Cornell? Are you saying that the standard is the same for Cornell Architecture and say Penn nursing?</p>
<p>for the majority of people, cornell is easiest.</p>
<p>"The majority of people".... really... the majority? Please...</p>
<p>Mostly people say that Cornell is easiest because of its (relatively) high acceptance rate...I believe the percentage is in the mid to low 20s. I'm sure it does vary depending on the different college/program. This also doesn't mean that getting into Cornell is easy, just easier than some other schools. However, the acceptance percentage is also somewhat skewed by the fact that Cornell has many more undergraduates than any of the other Ivies...almost 1.5 times the number of undergrads at UPenn, the next largest.</p>
<p>Cornell is the easiest Ivy because it simply has a admit rate 250% more than the other Ivies (~25% vs. 10% for the rest of em)</p>
<p>but beyond that, they are all just damn hard</p>
<p>"Mostly people say that Cornell is easiest because of its (relatively) high acceptance rate...I believe the percentage is in the mid to low 20s. This also doesn't mean that getting into Cornell is easy, just easier than some other schools."</p>
<p>"Cornell is the easiest Ivy because it simply has a admit rate 250% more than the other Ivies (~25% vs. 10% for the rest of em)"</p>
<p>-How can you say this? Do you really think that a lower acceptance rate means that a school is more difficult to get into? There are so many variables in the admissions process, that such a blanket statement just seems foolish to make.</p>
<p>Admissions rates don't speak to the selectivity of an applicant pool. If a school is, say, in New York City and gets thousands of applications from people who just want to be in the city and have no real shot at gaining admission in the first place, then of course it would have a relatively low acceptance rate. That doesn't mean, however, that it's more "difficult" to get into than its peers for students who had a viable chance in the first place. </p>
<p>If Columbia did indeed have the lowest acceptance rate of the Ivy League this year, then are you saying that it's easier to get into Harvard than Columbia?</p>
<p>Cornell's Acceptance Rates for Class of 2007
University total - 31.0%
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences - 29.9%
College of Art, Architecture, Planning - 22.4%
College of Arts and Sciences - 28.5%
College of Engineering - 37.2%
School of Hotel Administration - 25.7%
College of Human Ecology - 33.2%
School of Industrial and Labor Relations - 36.6% </p>
<p>Penn's School of Nursing has a 42% acceptance rate.
See this chart: <a href="http://www.ivysuccess.com/images/2007admitrate.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.ivysuccess.com/images/2007admitrate.jpg</a></p>
<p>I agree that acceptance rates don't mean everything, but they can give you a general idea of where a college stands.</p>
<p>"I agree that acceptance rates don't mean everything, but they can give you a general idea of where a college stands."</p>
<p>-I don't disagree with this. However, when we are talking about schools of this calibre, I think it very unwise to make blanket statements about which schools are "easier" to get into than others. Like I said, a person with no artistic background is probably going to have a MUCH harder time getting into Cornell Architecture than one of the Ivy League's CAS's</p>
<p>I think it would be truthful enough to say that Cornell is the easiest Ivy League to get into if you live in NY State and are applying to one of the state sponsored schools. It would be stupid not to...you could always switch schools if you wanted, and it is still considered a private college no matter which school you go to.</p>
<p>^ Why would getting into Cornell be easy if you're living in New York? Cornell only subsidizes the tuition for NY residents. Living in NY doesn't help you...if anything it hurts you because Cornell probably seeks geographical diversity.</p>
<p>Admissions rates neither tell the whole story, nor mean "very little." If you want an idea of what your chances are like at Columbia, browse the threads on this board with students who were either accepted/rejected/waitlisted, and look at their stats. It's by no means an easy school to get into, regardless of admission rate.</p>
